Environmental Cause and Effect

This worksheet supports students in Grades 4, 5, and 6 as they explore environmental change and scientific cause-and-effect relationships using a real-world example from the Southern Ocean. Learners read a short informational passage about declining krill populations and reduced sea ice, then identify the cause, explain the effect, and describe the connection using clear scientific reasoning and complete sentences.

Learning Goals

• Environmental Change (Grades 4-6): Understand how changes in sea ice affect krill populations and polar ecosystems.
• Food Webs & Habitats: Analyze the role of krill within Southern Ocean food webs and habitat systems.
• Cause and Effect Reasoning: Identify environmental causes and explain resulting effects using evidence from the text.
• Scientific Explanation Writing: Practice clearly explaining scientific processes in students’ own words.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource: Designed to align with upper elementary science and ELA standards.
• Real-World Application: Uses an authentic environmental issue to promote meaningful learning.
• Structured Thinking Task: Guides students through identifying cause, effect, and connection step by step.
• Flexible Use: Ideal for science units, small-group discussion, homework, or formative assessment.

This printable worksheet helps students build a deeper understanding of environmental science while strengthening critical thinking and explanation skills. By examining how reduced sea ice impacts krill populations, learners improve their ability to analyze food webs, environmental systems, and cause-and-effect relationships. It’s a practical, no-prep resource that works well in both classroom instruction and homeschool science learning.

This worksheet is part of our Southern Ocean Worksheets collection.